Vividcon and Ableism
Vividcon wank began over the banning of babies from the convention, but it quickly morphed into wank over ableism, triggers, and warnings. In short, various disabled fans were upset at what they perceived as a lack of accessibility, and some of them were mainly worried about being triggered by the videos. Highlights: *LIghtGetsIn insisting that vidders can't be trusted to put "sufficient" or "correct" warnings on their vids (discussed here) and comparing a lack of warnings for each and every vid at a videocon to arguments made against the Americans with Disabilities Act (discussed here). The latter is rather amazing, considering that LightGetsIn is an attorney. *Minnaway asking for warnings to include timestamps. Gentlefailer: "I'm picturing an empty premieres room, with EVERY PERSON AT THE CON standing in the hallway with a stop watch. Except it is ablist to require them to go in and out due to triggers, and ablist to require the ability to read a watch." *Vom_Marlowe's post about how VVC is oppressing her. The bulleted list toward the end, followed by the paragraph "Congrats, fandom. I now know my place!", is a marvel of passive-aggressiveness unto itself. *In said post, Chorus_of_Chaos proposing a class-action lawsuit against VVC (discussed here). *Impertinence, who has many triggers, claiming that people arguing against censorship are the ones making "emotional" arguments, but her insistence that people accommodate all possible triggers is rational (discussed here). *Thuviaparth echoing LightGetsIn's call for vid-level warnings imposed by VVC without vidder permission (discussed here). *Noted SJ warrior Deepad using the tone argument on a disabled fan: "As for the rest of your comment, it contains a level of hostility that disinclines me from further engagement with you." (Discussed here and here.) Various untitled f_fa threads: *"I'm fucking pissed that a bunch of BNFs cosigned this that post has since been locked and nobody noticed. And this was posted way before people started to get crazy and talk about breastfeeding and so forth. It's just totally, 'Disabled people? Rape victim who doesn't want to read about rape? HYPERSENSITIVE PUSSIES.'" *"Vids without warnings are harmful to people and vidders that won't warn are hurting others. The 'Choose Not To Warn' vidders are selfish and want to hurt others." *"The biggest reason I'm canceling attending VVC is the people tripping over each other to appear as my best friend. I'll get people in my face constantly because I have a disability. I want to be any other person at the Con and not someone to be asked what's wrong." *Ugly thread started by another rape survivor, trying to argue whether Impertinence was "raped enough" to count as a rape survivor. Frozen by mod. *Facetious thread on "competing accessibility claims," e.g., demanding a warning for rape vs. being triggered by the word "rape." *Thread covering both the ableism wank and the VVC slingbaby wank: "My grudge is against the rhetoric emerging now that says adults-only spaces (so no kids allowed) or risk-taking spaces (so everyone knows that the warnings in this particular space are likely to be insufficient and/or the amount of triggery content high) are not acceptable. After all, male-only universities weren't acceptable either! Everyone should be comfortable and welcome everywhere! Separate-but-equal is wrong, and this is the same thing as segregation!" Finally, there is this Braveheart-level speech by a disabled Gentlefailer with triggers who states that neither Vom_Marlowe nor Impertinence speaks for hir. It has become the text of our Triggers page. Interestingly, some anon linked Impertinence to it (discussed here). She took it surprisingly well. Category:SJ Conventions